1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the hair conditioner compositions in the form of an oil-in-water type emulsion, such as hair rinse, hair cream and other preparations for hair treatment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, the hair conditioner compositions in the form of an oil-in-water type emulsion (hereinafter referred to as "o/w type emulsion") such as hair cream have been produced by emulsifying in water an oil-phase material having the molecular weight of around or less than 500 and a simple chemical structure, such as for example liquid paraffin, vaseline, (Trademark) higher alcohols, higher fatty acids, esters, lanolin derivatives or squalane, by using as emulsifier an anionic surface active agent, glyceryl monostearate or ester or ether type nonionic surface active agent. However, these known hair conditioner compositions, although capable of relatively simple and stabilized emulsification of the oil phase material, often prove unsatisfactory in use effect such as retention of smooth comb running, flexibility and hair fixability, or feel of use such as tackiness or performance. For instance, if liquid paraffin is used as a major raw material (major oil phase), the product has a sense of tackiness.
On the other hand, high molecular synthetic oils with molecular weights of over 1,500, such as for example polyoxypropylene monobutylether, are capable of producing an excellent hair fixing effect, so that they are widely used as major material for hair fixing preparations. However, these synthetic oil materials are higher in molecular weight, complicated in chemical structure as compared with liquid paraffin or the like, and also fairly high in polarity in comparison with mineral oils such as liquid paraffin, so that they are very hard to emulsify and also extremely unstable even if emulsified. Therefore, use of said synthetic oils in the form of an emulsion has been attended by great difficulties. In case of preparing an o/w type emulsion by using one of said synthetic high-molecular oils, even if emulsification is accomplished according to a known method by using a commonly employed type of surface active agent (such as fatty acid soap, or glyceryl monostearate,), the state of emulsion and stability with aging become worse by increasing the synthetic oils, and also the texture and luster of the cream (emulsion) become extremely worse. Therefore, the above-said synthetic oils are mostly used not as emulsion type hair fixing preparations but as liquid type preparations, but such high molecular liquid synthetic oil materials involve the problem in the feeling of use since such materials have inherent tackiness and give a sense of greasiness. Therefore, development of a hair conditioner composition capable of eliminating such poor feeling of use and also having excellent long-term hair fixing and conditioning effects has been strongly required.